Pope faces theological test on TV but avoids issue of abuse

POPE BENEDICT XVI avoided the controversies that have buffeted the Catholic Church during the past year in a carefully managed performance for his first-ever televised question and answer session, screened yesterday.

POPE BENEDICT XVI avoided the controversies that have buffeted the Catholic Church during the past year in a carefully managed performance for his first-ever televised question and answer session, screened yesterday.

The reasons for suffering, the need to end conflict and the sanctity of human life were the safe subjects selected by programme makers for Italy's Rai Uno.

The interview, recorded last week in the Vatican library, was timed to be on the air at 3pm, traditionally given as the hour of Christ's death. None of the seven questions dealt with the scandal of paedophile priests. Easter Week last year was dominated by the shocking revelations of child abuse by clerics.

"We asked the Pope to respond not to the questions of journalists but to the questions of the public. And he agreed," said host Rosario Carello, who had the idea for the programme and picked the questions from the 2,000 that poured in.

Traumatised

Pope Benedict (84) dressed in white and sitting on a high-backed chair, responded to his inquirers in a slow, husky voice.

The first question came from a seven-year-old Japanese girl, traumatised by the recent earthquake and tsunami, who asked him "why so many children had died and why so many children were frightened".

The Pope replied that he did not have answers but added it was "important to be aware that this suffering wasn't empty, it wasn't in vain, but behind it was a good plan, a plan of love", adding that "we are with you and all the Japanese children who are suffering".

After polite applause from the studio audience, three expert guests attempted to fill in the theological gaps. The pattern was repeated for the other questions.

The second question came from Nadia Teresa, who sat beside her comatose son.

"Has the soul of my son, Francesco, who has been in a vegetative state since Easter 2009, left his body as he is no longer conscious, or is it still there?" she asked. "Of course it's still there," Pope Benedict responded, comparing the situation to a guitar with broken strings.

"The instrument of the body is fragile like that, it is vulnerable, and the soul cannot play, so to speak, but remains present," the Pope told her. "I am also sure his hidden soul feels your love deep down."

Opposed

In recent years the Vatican has fiercely opposed calls by some Italians to allow food and hydration to be stopped for such patients.

The third question came from Iraq, when a group of young Christians in Baghdad asked what could be done to halt the persecution they were suffering. Pope Benedict said: "I pray every day for the people in Iraq," adding the whole of Iraqi society needed to be "reconstructed through dialogue".

Although the broadcast did not mention the paedophilia scandal, the Pope appeared to allude vaguely to it on Thursday when he commented on the forthcoming beatification of his predecessor John Paul II, noting the church had both "shameful mistakes and luminous examples".